The Sunshine State: No longer a “Happy” place for copyright trolls.

A number of copyright trolls hit a snag when the judges in both the Middle District of Florida (FLMD) and the Northern District of Florida (FLND) froze a whole slew of cases, consolidated some, and severed many others. This is just a simple indication that 1) federal judges in Florida are talking to one another, and 2) Florida has caught on to the copyright trolls’ extortion scheme.

In the Northern District of Florida, the mass bittorrent lawsuit West Coast Productions, Inc. v. Does 1-581 (Case No. 5:12-cv-00277) was “smoked,” resulting in all defendants [except one] being severed and dismissed from the case. Judge Smoaknot only denied plaintiff attorney Jeffrey Weaver of Dunlap Weaver, PLLC (think, “Dunlap, Grubb, & Weaver, PLLC” from the olden days) an extension of time to name and serve defendants (as if he would have if he was given the chance) but he also killed Weaver’s lawsuit by severing out all the defendants. Now obviously Jeffrey Weaver can always re-file against individual John Does in their home states, but so far [with few exceptions] I have not seen individual lawsuits from these plaintiff attorneys.

However, here is the problem with the West Coast Productions, Inc. severed case. We know it is severed. You now know it is severed. However, your ISP does not know, and as far as they are concerned, they are still under an order signed by Judge Smoak on 9/4/2012 forcing them to produce the names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mails of the 581 accused defendants. And, based on my conversations with defendants in this case over the past few days, these deadlines are coming up right around the corner.

I would assume that eventually the ISPs would pick up on the dismissal after enough notice, but I want to remind defendants to make sure to give notice to your ISP not to produce your information. This is something you can do on your own, but if you want an attorney to do it for you, I have already taken care of this for my own clients. Remember, your ISP gets paid by the plaintiff attorneys for each name they hand over, so they have a financial interest in producing the names “accidentally,” unless you give them notice. And, Jeffrey Weaver (your plaintiff attorney) will gladly pay your ISP for their accident because he wants nothing more than to get your names so that he can ask for $3,500 from each one of you. For this reason, be smart and follow-up with this, whether you use me to send the letter and documentation to your ISP for you, or whether you do it on your own.

As if the severance is not enough exciting news, in the Middle District of Florida, PRETTY MUCH EVERY CASE HAS BEEN EITHER FROZEN, SEVERED, OR DISMISSED. Hoo yah!

I am happy to share that many of these cases were frozen in their tracks BEFORE THE JUDGES GAVE ORDERS PERMITTING THE PLAINTIFFS TO RECEIVE SUBPOENAS. In other words, the ISPs were never subpoenaed, and you — the thousands of John Doe Defendants — never received ANYTHING in the mail! Here are just a few examples of various cases:

Night of the Templar, LLC v. Does 1-23 (6:12-cv-01777) — SHOW CAUSE WHY SANCTIONS SHOULD NOT BE AWARDED.Night of the Templar, LLC v. Does 1-92 (6:12-cv-01778) — SHOW CAUSE WHY SANCTIONS SHOULD NOT BE AWARDED.Night of the Templar, LLC v. Does 1-98 (8:12-cv-02645) — SEVERED AND DISMISSED.

Bait Productions Pty Ltd. cases — CONSOLIDATED; ALL CASES ASSIGNED TO JUDGE COVINGTON AND GIVEN NEW CASE NUMBER (6:12-cv-01779). This applies to the following cases:

According to @copyrightclerk, “Bait Productions ha[d] 25 active cases in the Middle District of Florida against a total of 1,536 defendants.” Her write up on the consolidation of Bait Productions cases can be found here.

In sum, while Florida might be “the sunny state,” it appears as if a deep cold front has come in and given the flu to the trolls. I saw a number of Florida cases from other plaintiffs as well that have been frozen, killed, stayed, or severed and dismissed. It took them over two years, but I am happy they have finally caught on.

8 Responses

Great news. Now, would the remaining Doe’s in the case, in most cases its Doe 1, be pursued with more aggression by the trolls? Since they basically wasted $3500 and hundreds of hours of copy and paste time on one name.

@poD, the logical answer would be “yes,” however, in practice, the remaining Doe Defendant is just dismissed without prejudice. No copyright troll wants a trial, and a confrontational Doe who wants to fight his case and prove his innocence usually ends up just getting dismissed.

Thanks, I kind of figured that, at least in MM case in FL. However, Libscomb and Nicoletti are definitely cooking something up in Indiana Southern District Court, MM has 4 open cases with pretty much all defendants named and several default judgements entered. Something to keep an eye on.

I think one of the major reasons Florida is finally “getting it” is because of the whole Sunlust/Prenda fiasco in Tampa. Judge Scriven stated that she intended on advising the other Judges in the Courthouse of the nature of this matter and may refer this matter (scam) to the Florida Bar for further proceedings.

DISCLAIMER:

The contents of this web site are for information purposes only. Nothing here is to be construed as legal advice or a solicitation for legal representation. If you have any questions, contact an attorney competent in the area of law in which you seek assistance.

No attorney-client relationship is assumed or formed until a signed contract and retainer fee is received by the Cashman Law Firm, PLLC.

The opinions and articles contained in this web site are not guaranteed to be accurate according to the law, and the site is not updated to reflect developments or changes in the law. Laws change frequently, so to obtain up-to-date information on the current state of the law, contact an attorney.